Uploaded October 2020 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
The aftermath of Prohibition in the late 1920s and the Depression Era of the early 1930s saw the rise of the so-called American "public enemies": criminals like Al Capone, John Dillinger, Clyde Barrow, and others dominated headlines with their illegal exploits and captivated the American public's imagination. Though not quite as well-known as the Dillinger and Barrow gangs, the Barker–Karpis Gang was no less ruthless, committing a whole host of robberies and kidnappings.
The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover claimed that the mastermind of the gang was the ruthless matriarch of the Barker family, Kate "Ma" Barker, and they gunned her down together with one of her sons, Fred Barker, in a four-hour shootout at the Barker hideout in 1935. Others like Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, who was probably the real leader of the gang, claimed that she was not even a criminal at all; just a simple, gullible innocent old woman from the Ozarks who paid the ultimate price for her children's crimes at the hands of the Feds. Who was the real "Ma" Barker?
Please note that this program was made in 1995. In 2013, writer Tim Mahoney argued in his book, "Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang", that the real force behind the gang was the corrupt St. Paul law-enforcement system, especially under the notoriously corrupt police chief Tom Brown. Before they met him, the Barker Gang were nothing more than a "bumbling band of hillbilly burglars" who would have been captured or killed long before becoming nationally notorious. "Had the Barker Gang never come under Brown's protection, Ma Barker might have died lonesome in the Ozarks, an impoverished obscure widow," he concluded.
This is the full length episode. Previous uploads are TV recordings with about 3 minutes cut.
The aftermath of Prohibition in the late 1920s and the Depression Era of the early 1930s saw the rise of the so-called American "public enemies": criminals like Al Capone, John Dillinger, Clyde Barrow, and others dominated headlines with their illegal exploits and captivated the American public's imagination. Though not quite as well-known as the Dillinger and Barrow gangs, the Barker–Karpis Gang was no less ruthless, committing a whole host of robberies and kidnappings.
The FBI under J. Edgar Hoover claimed that the mastermind of the gang was the ruthless matriarch of the Barker family, Kate "Ma" Barker, and they gunned her down together with one of her sons, Fred Barker, in a four-hour shootout at the Barker hideout in 1935. Others like Alvin "Creepy" Karpis, who was probably the real leader of the gang, claimed that she was not even a criminal at all; just a simple, gullible innocent old woman from the Ozarks who paid the ultimate price for her children's crimes at the hands of the Feds. Who was the real "Ma" Barker?
Please note that this program was made in 1995. In 2013, writer Tim Mahoney argued in his book, "Secret Partners: Big Tom Brown and the Barker Gang", that the real force behind the gang was the corrupt St. Paul law-enforcement system, especially under the notoriously corrupt police chief Tom Brown. Before they met him, the Barker Gang were nothing more than a "bumbling band of hillbilly burglars" who would have been captured or killed long before becoming nationally notorious. "Had the Barker Gang never come under Brown's protection, Ma Barker might have died lonesome in the Ozarks, an impoverished obscure widow," he concluded.
This is the full length episode. Previous uploads are TV recordings with about 3 minutes cut.
